Australian Open: Djokovic sails into 3rd round

Melbourne: World No.1 Novak Djokovic overcame the mid-afternoon heat to breeze through his men's singles second round Australian Open match against Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 at the Rod Laver Arena here Thursday.

The Serb was put under pressure in the initial few games as the Colombian making his third straight second round at Melbourne Park, broke him at 2-2. Djokovic shrugged off early jitters winning 81 per cent of points when he got his first serve in and dominated the net to take the match in straight sets.

Giraldo looked far from convincing making 38 unforced errors. The World No.1 on the other hand improved with every passing point and wrapped up the match in an hour and 42 minutes.

Russian Maria Sharapova too put in a dominant performance against qualifier Jamie Hampton of the United States in the second round, thrashing her 6-0, 6-1.

The World No.4 took just 64 minutes to dispose of her opponent and set up a clash with Angelique Kerber of Germany.

Second seed Petra Kvitova had to fight hard for a second round win against her Spanish opponent Carla Suarez Navarro. The 21-year-old Czech in her bid to to land balls close to the lines made 48 errors but got away thanks to some hard hitting winners from the baseline.

Kvitova, the reigning Wimbledon champion, will have to address this problem before she faces stronger opponents in the coming rounds.

France's Marion Bartoli had an easy outing against local player Jelena Dokic. The No.9 seed won in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to take on Chinese Jie Zheng in the third round.

The following are the results so far of Day Three at the Australian Open: